Photos: Tuesday’s Atlas 5 rollout

Based upon an on-time launch Thursday, this is the timeline for Cygnus from liftoff through capture by the space station’s robotic arm.

A commercial communications satellite stayed on Earth after a last-second launch abort Sunday, the third time in five days that SpaceX has scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Hobbyists who keep track of the skies with remarkable precision have found the U.S. Air Force’s mini space shuttle in its no-longer-secret orbit around the Earth.